September 6, 2018. That’s the deadline.
If allowed to pass, Plain & Standardized Packaging for all tobacco products will become a reality in Canada, very soon.

Exercise your right to write a few words in favour of exempting of Premium Cigars from plain & standardized packaging.
Send your premium-cigar-positive email to these representatives in the Canadian Government:

Postal Address **Note: postal mail to an MP can be sent postage free:
Ginette Petitpas-Taylor
Confederation Building
#356
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
K1A 0A6

Band together to prevent premium cigars
from having to comply with plain packaging.

Premium Cigars needs 25,000+ written submissions to the Canadian Government to stop the unrealistic Plain & Standardized Packaging, aka PSP, approach to premium tobacco.

A couple of years ago, in 2016, Health Canada received more than 58,000 comments, with the overwhelming majority expressing support for the PSP proposal.
If you didn’t write then to support the exemption of Premium Cigars … do it now.

When you read PSP articles (see excerpts below) references will usually be to cigarettes, with an occasional disclaimer to exempt cigars & pipes.
Make no mistake, when documentation says cigarettes, it means all tobacco.
And cigar people know that premium cigars are nothing like cigarettes, but premium cigar leaf will be lumped in with all the other leafs nonetheless.

We love cigars – the tastes, aromas, the camaraderie / education and the positive socialization that premium cigars provide.

This isn’t the kind of packaging Premium Cigars in Canada should be faced with.
The plan is for all tobacco products to have a standardized dark brown/olive green colour as well as limited wording on the package:
“referred to as Pantone 448C for all tobacco packaging.
Brand names should be limited to two words only, and variant names should be limited to one word only” – Consultation summary: “Plain and standardized packaging” for tobacco products.

Canadians who support Cigars, Premium Cigar Packaging and the enjoyment that Premium Cigars provide in their lives … well-being, socialization & positive mental health …
have until September 6, 2018 to submit written support for cigars.

Within the next 30 days, we must express our views against tobacco control / plain packaging with regard to premium cigars.

Canada has already gone Dark Market for retailers who sell tobacco products.
PSP is the next step.
“Tobacco-free/Smoke-free Canada” is the goal of numerous lobby groups.
There are numerous government-funded lobby groups campaigning for plain-packaging.
They’ve got big budgets and plenty of feet on the ground to support PSP. They’re already claiming victory even though the consultation doesn’t close until Sept 6, 2018.

Exempting Premium Cigars from PSP has time to be heard, if we choose to speak up.

Plain & Standardized Packaging won’t stop here.
Other countries have & will continue to use Canada as a case study.

Let’s mobilize ourselves, our friends, family & everyone who knows plain packaging is a bad idea and will have a negative impact on premium cigars.

We must continue to demonstrate our support for Premium Cigars in Canada:“Many felt that premium cigars should not be included in the PSP policy since they felt that youth do not consume cigars due to their high cost and that cigar packaging is not intended to lure young adults into trying cigars.
Cigar smokers also indicated that the label and packaging of premium cigars (wooden boxes) are part of the tradition and the experience, and they should not be further regulated”

There’s the contraband tobacco issue:
“Currently, legal tobacco products have complicated packaging to duplicate. The use of colours, embossing, and other advanced printing techniques requires specialized equipment and designs that are not easily acquired or duplicated.” – National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco.

“Some of the tobacconists who responded were also concerned that customers would not like the appearance of PSP and would, as a result, begin purchasing cigars online from international sources, ultimately affecting their business.

Tobacconists, along with smokeless tobacco and premium cigar business associations who responded, were all of the opinion that products currently not targeted to youth (e.g. premium cigars and smokeless tobacco) should not be subject to PSP measures.

Along with the comments mentioned above, some retailers and business associations provided recommendations such as:

A visible element of branding on the outside of carton should be allowed, to assist with inventory management.A small logo or branding on the top corner of packages should be allowed, to aid retail clerks in product identification.To ensure sufficient time for inventory depletion, the transition period for retailers should be longer than that for manufacturers.Pipe tobacco, smokeless tobacco and premium cigars should be exempt from all PSP measures.”

Background from 2016: “As part of the federal commitment to introducing plain and standardized packaging requirements for tobacco products, a 90-day public consultation was held in 2016. During the consultation, Health Canada received more than 58,000 comments, with the overwhelming majority expressing support for the proposal”

Current Tobacco-Control Reality: “Health Canada published its draft regulations and opened a 75-day (to Sept 6, 2018) consultation period for people to provide written submissions on its proposed changes to cigarette packages, which aim to make them drab, unattractive and unappealing to youth.

The proposed measures would also restrict how brand names are displayed and would require all tobacco packages to be the same colour“

“We would like to get to a smoke-free future in Canada as quickly as possible and we’re just hopeful the regulations will support that vision.”

“In 2018-19, Health Canada will continue its efforts to strengthen tobacco control in Canada. Pending Royal Assent of the Tobacco Act, Health Canada will work towards implementing plain packaging requirements on all tobacco products as well as the development of a modernized Federal Tobacco Control Strategy to reduce tobacco-related diseases and deaths. Between new funds set out in Budget 2018 and existing resources, the Government plans to make significant investments in tobacco control over the next five years. This will help to ensure that Canada remains a world leader in tobacco control.”